Automatic generation of device-centric distribution lists

ABSTRACT

A method and system for managing distribution lists rely on the collection of job log data from shared devices, such as networked printers. For each printer, a usage community comprising users of the shared device, can be determined, based at least in part on the job log data. At least one distribution list of users is generated, based on the usage community. The distribution list can be linked with a mailer program, whereby users in the usage community are grouped together under a common contact address. Updating the distribution list at intervals to reflect changes in the usage community allows a static email address to be used for a varying group of users.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS AND APPLICATIONS

The following copending applications, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties, are mentioned:

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/328,276, filed Dec. 4, 2008, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING FAILURE DETECTION USING COLLECTIVEINTELLIGENCE WITH END-USER FEEDBACK, by Guillaume Bouchard, et al.;

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/164,384, filed Jun. 30, 2008, entitledSERENDIPITOUS REPAIR OF SHARED DEVICE, by Jean-Luc Meunier; and

U.S. application Ser. No. 12/201,093, filed Aug. 29, 2008, entitledVISUALIZATION OF USER INTERACTIONS IN A SYSTEM OF NETWORKED DEVICES, byGuillaume Bouchard, et al.

BACKGROUND

The exemplary embodiment relates to communication with users of a shareddevice and finds particular application in a network printing system, inwhich devices, such as printers, are utilized by different users.

Network printing systems may include one or several networked printersor multi-function devices (MFDs) shared by the people in anorganization. Given a device, the set of people using it form a de factouser community. There are many circumstances where it would beadvantageous for community members to communicate with each other. Forexample, it would be helpful to be able to alert other users that alarge job is being printed on one printer, which would give other usersthe opportunity to reroute their jobs to another network printer. Or, ifone printer is undergoing repair or awaiting a service call, it would beuseful to let the users of that printer know. However, current printnetworks make this difficult. Emails sent to all the people in anorganization having multiple printers would be distracting, since formany users, the information would not be applicable to them. Further,while an email distribution list could be established for a givendevice, it would require considerable time in setting up by printeradministrators. The lists would also need regular maintenance to takeaccount of employees moving locations within the organization or leavingthe organization, the arrival of newcomers, changes in printer types andlocations, and so forth. Additionally, users may use one printer forregular printing and another for color printing or jobs requiringspecial paper or ink. Users may also run out of consumables (ink, toner,paper, and the like) at one printer location and either send documentsto another printer or search for replacement consumables at otherprinter locations.

The exemplary embodiment provides a system and method which, in variousembodiments, address some or all of these device-centric communicationproblems.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The following references, the disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties, are mentioned:

U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0268509, published Nov. 22, 2007, entitled SOFTFAILURE DETECTION IN A NETWORK OF DEVICES, by Jean-Marc Andreoli, etal., discloses a method and apparatus for monitoring printing devices ofa printing devices network. The apparatus includes a family of usagemodels representing typical usage of the printing devices of theprinting devices network. An adaptation procedure allows selection ofone model within that family, based on a printing devices usage logmaintained by the printing devices network. A printing usage monitor isconfigured to detect deviation of logged usage of a printing device fromthe usage model indicative of a soft failure on that device.

U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0206445, published Sep. 14, 2006, entitledPROBABILISTIC MODELING OF SHARED DEVICE USAGE, by Jean-Marc Andreoli, etal., discloses a method for estimating parameters of a probability modelthat models user behavior of shared devices offering different classesof service for carrying out jobs. The method includes recording usagejob data of observed users and devices carrying out the jobs, defining aprobability model with an observed user variable, an observed devicevariable, a latent job cluster variable, and a latent job service classvariable, determining a range of service classes associated with theshared devices, selecting an initial number of job clusters, learningparameters of the probability model using the recorded job usage data,the determined range of service classes, and the selected initial numberof job clusters, and applying the learned parameters of the probabilitymodel to evaluate one or more of: configuration of the shared devices,use of the shared devices, and job redirection between the shareddevices.

U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0132826, published Jun. 22, 2006, entitled AUTOMATEDJOB DIRECTION AND ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT, by Victor Ciriza, et al.,discloses a method and apparatus for managing a plurality ofcommunicatively coupled systems. The method includes collecting job logdata, determining a user community for each of the plurality of systemsusing the job log data, calculating overlapping communities for pairs ofthe plurality of systems, and defining a redirection matrix using theoverlapping communities for managing operation of the plurality ofsystems.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,240, issued Oct. 21, 2003, entitled SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR BUILDING DYNAMIC E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION LISTS FROM MULTIPLESELECTED DOCUMENTS, by Brandt C. Centerwall, et al., discloses a methodfor automatically building distribution lists based on email threads, sothat the people that are often copied on emails are grouped together.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,830, issued Sep. 8, 1998, entitled METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS WITH SELECTIVE SUBSETS OFCONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS, by Ken Reese, et al., discloses logic forcreation of nested distribution lists with logical constraints.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,886, issued Nov. 23, 1999, entitled GRAPHICALLYCREATING E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION LISTS WITH GEOGRAPHIC AREA SELECTOR ON MAP,by Holly Serdy, et al., discloses placing users on a geographic map andmanually selecting a distribution list by drawing areas on the map.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with one aspect of the exemplary embodiment, a methodincludes collecting job log data for a shared device, determining ausage community comprising users of the shared device, based on the joblog data, generating at least one distribution list based on the usagecommunity, linking the distribution list with a mailer program, wherebyusers in the usage community are grouped together under a common contactaddress. The distribution list is updated to reflect a change in theusage community.

One or more of the collecting, determining, generating, linking, andupdating can be performed with a computer processor.

In another aspect, a distribution list generation system includes memorywhich stores instructions for receiving job log data from a plurality ofassociated shared devices, for a first of the plurality of shareddevices, determining a usage community comprising users of the firstshared device, based on the job log data, generating at least onedistribution list based on the usage community, updating thedistribution list to reflect changes in the usage community, andoutputting the distribution list to a mailer program, whereby users inthe usage community are able to be grouped together under a commoncontact address. A processor in communication with the memory isprovided for executing the instructions.

In another aspect, a method for generating device-centered distributionlists for a plurality of printers includes, for each of a plurality ofshared printers, collecting job log data, determining a usage community,based on the job log data, generating at least one updatabledistribution list of users based on the usage community, and providingfor email addresses for at least a subset of the users listed on thedistribution list to be removably linked to a static email address.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network printing system inaccordance with one aspect of the exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates communication within the networkprinting system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a method-of generating and using a device-centereddistribution list in accordance with another aspect of the exemplaryembodiment;

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate screen shots generated by a device managersystem for assisting an administrator in selecting distribution listsfor automatically receiving specified alerts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the exemplary embodiment relate to a method and apparatus forgenerating device-centered distribution lists. While the device isdescribed in terms of a networked printer, it is to be appreciated thatthe device can be any shared usage electromechanical device. Theapparatus and method provide improvements in usage and repair of shareddevices by facilitating communications between the device and its usersas well as between users of shared devices.

The term “printer,” as used herein, broadly encompasses various shareddevices for rendering an image on print media, such as a copier, laserprinter, bookmaking machine, facsimile machine, or a multifunctiondevice (MFD), which includes one or more functions such as scanning,printing, archiving, emailing, and faxing. A printer may utilize amarking material, such as ink(s) or toner(s) for rendering images onprint media.

The term “print medium” generally refers to a physical sheet of paper,plastic, or other suitable physical print media substrate for images.

An interaction between a user and a device (e.g., printing, scanning,copying, etc.) is defined herein as a job. A “print job” or “document”is normally a set of related sheets, usually one or more collated copysets copied from a set of original print job sheets or electronicdocument page images, from a particular user, or otherwise related. Aprint job generally includes a “printing object,” which consists of oneor more document images in a suitable format that is recognized by theprinter, together with a “job ticket,” which provides information aboutthe print job that will be used to control how the job is processed,including the number of copies to be made. Where reference is madeherein to processing operations related to the print job, such asrequesting, collecting, storing, receiving, sending, etc., of a printjob, this generally includes processing operations involving one or moreof the printing object, its job ticket, information derived from theprinting object and/or information derived from the job ticket, unlessotherwise indicated.

A “network printing system,” as used herein, incorporates a plurality ofshared devices, which are accessible to one or more workstations, suchas personal computers.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing a network of shared devices inwhich the embodiments described herein may operate. In FIG. 1, anetworked printing system 10 includes a wired or wireless network 12,which links various computing devices with an organization of sharednetwork devices. Existing on the network 12 are, for purposes ofillustrating the embodiments, a plurality of computers 14 and 16, linkedby the network to a respective one or more of a plurality of shareddevices, here illustrated as printers, such as multifunction devices 18,20, 22, and 24. Optionally, also provided on network 12 is a printserver 26, which acts as a virtual printing device to which all or someprint requests on the network 12 may be spooled before being sent to aphysical device 18, 20, 22, or 24.

The exemplary network printing system 10 may be typical of those foundin organizations where access to the network printers is limited tomembers of the organization, via their network accessible computers, andthose permitted to copy hard copy documents on one of the printers,without requiring network access. While each network user may haveaccess to several network printers via the network for printing printjobs, one of the printers is typically designated as the user's defaultprinter, to which the user's print jobs are sent, unless the user electsto send the job to a different printer.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the print server 26 hosts, incomputer memory 28, a distribution list generation system 30, whichincludes software instructions that are executed by an associatedcomputer processor 32 in performing the exemplary method described withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3. System 30 includes a device user identifier34, and a distribution list generator 36, a communication component 37,and a usage model 38.

Each device 18, 20, 22, or 24 may generate usage logs, in the form ofelectronic data, which, among other things, include details of eachprint job performed on the device, such as the number of pages, whetherthe job is color or monochrome, and the like, as well as a time stampfor the job, and the User ID, if available. The usage logs may be storedin memory on the respective device or elsewhere in the system 10. Theusage logs thus reflect the actual day-to-day usage of the device 18,20, 22, or 24 by the device users, during operation of the device on thenetwork.

With reference also to FIG. 2, the device user identifier 34 receiveslogged usage data 40 from devices 18, 20, 22, and 24 (or from printserver 26). The device user identifier 34 analyzes the usage logs toidentify, for each device, a community of usage, which is a set ofusers, based on the logs 40. The distribution list generator 36 appliesrules for refining the community of usage for generating one or moredevice-specific distribution lists 42 for one or more of the shareddevices 18, 20, 22, and 24. In addition to defining a distribution listof users associated to a specific device, the distribution listgenerator 36 may also identify users that are associated with a specificfunctionality (e.g., users that often print in color, e.g., for at leasta threshold percent of their print jobs). The generated lists 42 areexported, periodically or on request, by a communication component 37.Over time, users 44 make use of the shared devices 18, 20, 22, and 24,by sending jobs to the devices, which in turn causes the devices orprint server to generate usage logs 40.

Device centered distribution lists 42 can be created which targetselected ones (or all) of the users in a community of usage. With thedistribution lists 42, the group of users of a given device (or adesignated subset of them) can be contacted electronically, e.g.,through the illustrated messaging system 46. The messaging system may beresident on an email server 47 (FIG. 1), which is accessible to some orall of the computing devices 14, 16. Messaging system 46 has access tothe distribution lists 42 via a wired or wireless link 48 to thecommunication component 37. While in the exemplary embodiment, messagingsystem communicates with users by use of email, other messaging systemscan be utilized, such as instant messaging (SMS) or phone messages.

The device user identifier 34 may include a software architecturesimilar to those proposed in above-mentioned U.S. Pub. Nos. 20060132826and 20060206445, incorporated herein by reference. The device useridentifier 34 identifies the network users of a given shared device.Specifically, user communities for each shared device are automaticallyidentified based on usage logs 40. The list of users is dynamicallymaintained, based on the identified user community, by the distributionlist generator 36 so that it is up-to-date when needed.

In the exemplary embodiment, each printer 18, 20, 22, 24 generates itsown usage log 40 which provide a record of usage of that printer. Theusage log may provide a list of print jobs 50, each job being linked toa user ID 52, from which the user is identifiable. The user 52 ID may beacquired from the computer 14, 16 outputting the print job, e.g., fromthe job ticket which is associated with the print job. Or, in the caseof a copy job, the user ID may be acquired through a login, an accesscard, an RFID, or the like.

Each job 50 may have a time stamp indicating when the print job wasreceived/performed. The usage logs 40 may be output to the distributionlist generation system 30 periodically, such as once a day, and storedin temporary memory, e.g., on the server. Alternatively, the logs 40 maybe forwarded from the devices 18, 20, 22, 24 in real time, as generated.

The device-specific distribution list 42 generated by the distributionlist generation system 30 makes it possible to contact the group ofusers of a given shared device electronically. In particular, eachcomputer terminal 14, 16 includes a mailer program 60, stored incomputer memory 62, which is executed by a processor 64, such as thecomputer's CPU (FIG. 1). The mailer program allows users to receive,view, compose, and send emails, e.g., with the aid of a display 66,which displays an interface for the mailer program 60, and a user inputdevice 68, such as a keyboard, keypad, cursor control device, touchscreen, or combination thereof. The mailer program 60 is incommunication with the messaging system 46. The mailer program 60 allowsa sender 44A to select, as an addressee, “printer X users”, where X canbe an identifier for the printer, such as its given name (e.g., NWprinter or 1st. Floor printer). The sender can, for example, type in theaddressee name or select it from the user's address book. The sender 44Aof the message does not necessarily know the names of recipients 44B anddoes not need to have access to the distribution list.

It is to be appreciated that where reference is made herein to memory,such as memory 28, the memory may represent any type of computerreadable medium such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory(ROM), magnetic disk or tape, optical disk, flash memory, holographicmemory, or combinations thereof, which may be physically resident in thesame or separate computing devices. Where reference is made to aprocessor, such as processor 32, it is to be appreciated that theprocessor is a digital processor capable of execution of instructionsstored in memory, and can be variously embodied, such as by asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor (or more generally by amultiple-core processor), a digital processor and cooperating mathcoprocessor, a digital controller, or the like. The term “software” asused herein is intended to encompass any collection or set ofinstructions executable by a computer or other digital system so as toconfigure the computer or other digital system to perform the task thatis the intent of the software. The term “software” as used herein isintended to encompass such instructions stored in storage medium such asRAM, a hard disk, optical disk, or so forth, and is also intended toencompass so-called “firmware” that is software stored on a ROM or soforth. Such software may be organized in various ways, and may includesoftware components organized as libraries, Internet-based programsstored on a remote server or so forth, source code, interpretive code,object code, directly executable code, and so forth. It is contemplatedthat the software may invoke system-level code or calls to othersoftware residing on a server or other location to perform certainfunctions.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for generating and using a device-relateddistribution list, which may be performed in the system of FIG. 1.

The method begins at S100. At S102, print job log data is collected fromeach of the printers.

At S104, a usage community is determined for each printer. The communitymay be determined periodically, and the list of members updated, or maybe determined only after a request for the list has been received. Forexample, by using a software architecture similar to those proposed inU.S. application Ser. No. 11/137,565, filed May 26, 2005, entitled“PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF SHARED DEVICE USAGE,” by ANDREOLI, et al.,the network users of each device are identified.

At S106, a distribution list is generated for each printer, based on theusage community/usage logs. The distribution list identifies at least asubset of the users in such a way that they can be linked to their emailaddresses. For example, the distribution list may include, for eachlisted user, the user's email address, a unique ID of the user, or thename of the user. Since the usage communities are automaticallyidentified based on usage logs, the distribution list for each devicecan be dynamically maintained and thus kept up-to-date.

At S108, the distribution list for each device is stored in computermemory accessible to the network.

At S110, a request is received for the updated distribution list (e.g.,from a mailer program or a printer) and the distribution list or linkthereto is output.

At S112, contact information, e.g., email addresses, of members of thedistribution list are removably associated with a common static contactaddress, e.g., a group email address. In this way, the common emailaddress can remain static even though the associated email addresses maychange over time as the distribution list(s) changes.

For example at S110A, a user addresses an email to the users of aprinter. The common email address is linked to the email addresses ofusers on the distribution list, who subsequently receive the email whensent. Or, at S110B, a printer develops a fault and automatically sends amessage to alert its users. The messaging system sends the message toone or more users on the distribution list.

The method ends at S114.

The method illustrated in FIG. 3 may be implemented in a computerprogram product that may be executed on a computer. The computer programproduct may be a computer-readable recording medium on which a controlprogram is recorded, such as a disk, hard drive, or the like. Commonforms of computer-readable media include, for example, floppy disks,flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic storagemedium, CD-ROM, DVD, or any other optical medium, a RAM, a PROM, anEPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or other memory chip or cartridge, or any othertangible medium from which a computer can read and use. Alternatively,the method may be implemented in a transmittable carrier wave in whichthe control program is embodied as a data signal using transmissionmedia, such as acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio wave and infrared data communications, and the like.

The exemplary method may be implemented on one or more general purposecomputers, special purpose computer(s), a programmed microprocessor ormicrocontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC orother integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwiredelectronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, aprogrammable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, Graphical card CPU(GPU), or PAL, or the like. In general, any device, capable ofimplementing a finite state machine that is in turn capable ofimplementing the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, can be used to implement themethod of generating and/or using a device-centered distribution list.

Various aspects of the system and method are now described.

Distribution List Management

The distribution list of users for a device can be stored, for example,on the email server 47, or elsewhere in the network, such as on adevice-centric server such as the Xerox Device Manager. It may bedesirable to preserve the user anonymity in certain settings, so thecontent of the list may be kept private. For an email-basedimplementation, a convenient method for addressing the distribution list42 of a device is by providing a collective name for the users of eachprinter, such as ‘Printer X-users.’ Such a distribution list can bemanaged on the central email system 46 or, alternatively, managed bydevice management software. Depending on where the list is stored, thedomain part of the email address may change, e.g.,Printer1users@ABCCo.com or Printer1usersdistributionliststorage.ABCCo.com. Device users, and others with access to thedistribution lists, can then use the mailer program 60 to interact withusers in the community of usage of a certain device. In otherembodiments, the print-driver located on the user's computer 14, 16 mayplay a role either by being the primary way to send a message or byproviding a convenient way to retrieve the distribution list name.

Additionally, each of the printers 18, 20, 22, 24 may be linked to themessaging system for sending automatically generated emails to users onthe distribution list of the same or a different printer. The users on adistribution list 42 may be identified by their email address, oralternatively by their network login name.

Management of the Distribution List Membership

Initial generation of the lists: The first time that the distributionlists 42 are generated, all users who maintain a threshold level ofusage of a printer in a given time period (e.g., three or more pages perweek, on average) are considered as candidates for inclusion on thedistribution list. The candidate users may be polled, e.g., via email,to confirm that they would like to be on the list. At that time, some orall of the users may be asked whether they are willing to take on aspecific distribution list role, such as serve as a main contact forthat printer. One or more of the users may be designated as the maincontact, based on the responses. U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0132826 and U.S.application Ser. No. 11/137,565 provide efficient algorithms to createcommunities based on past usage logs. In practice, three weeks of logsare sufficient to identify the main communities.

In some embodiments, all users having at least a minimum level of usageof a printer are automatically added to the distribution list and haveno opportunity to opt out, other than by ceasing to meet the requiredusage level in a given time period.

In one embodiment, the distribution lists may be generated/updated uponan administrator request. For example, the communication component 37provides the list of user communities which can be validated ordiscarded manually by the administrator.

In another embodiment, the distribution list is maintainedautomatically, without the input of an administrator. In one embodiment,it may be updated every time the community of usage changes. In otherembodiments, it may be updated periodically, e.g., at regular orirregular intervals, such as weekly or monthly.

Updating of the lists: As noted, update of the distribution lists may beperformed periodically. For example, if a user does not use a printerfor a given time period or with a given threshold amount of usage (e.g.,zero jobs in two months), then he may be considered as a candidate fordeletion from the distribution list of a particular printer. In oneembodiment, a message is automatically sent to the deletion candidate toask if he still wants to be part of the community. If he responds thathe does not wish to be part of the community/on the distribution listfor that printer, or gives no answer, then he is removed from thedistribution list. In other embodiments, a user is dropped automaticallyfrom the distribution list if he does not meet the threshold usagerequirements for being maintained on the list. If a user not currentlyon the distribution list exhibits at least a threshold level of usage(e.g., three or more pages per week, on average), he is considered as acandidate for inclusion on the distribution list. He may beautomatically added to the distribution list, or may be added once hehas been contacted to confirm that he would like to be on the list.Depending on the internal policy, he may be able to refuse themembership.

Self-service membership management: optionally, a user can opt out orapply to join a distribution list on a voluntary basis. In general,however, the distribution list reflects actual usage and automaticallyadapts to the actual usage, which can be performed without the need forhuman intervention.

Device-Triggered Communication

A device 18, 20, 22, 24 may exploit its user community in a varietyways. In particular, it may announce important events to its users, viathe static email address, such as one or more of the following:

Machine state events: Events particular to a device, such as started,halted, out-of-paper, or the like can be communicated to the printer'sdistribution list. Although, many print drivers can already provide thisinformation to users submitting print jobs, it may be useful, in somecases, to be able to alert all users on the distribution list.

Machine-requests: a device requiring a repair or other user action cancommunicate its need to the user community and the members can use thesame medium, e.g., email, to organize how it will be fixed, once theconversation has been initiated by the machine. In one embodiment, anincentive is provided for the repair. For example, as described inabove-mentioned U.S. application Ser. No. 12/164,384 a reward mechanismmay be used to obtain quicker repairs.

Alternatively, the device may decide send its request to a subset of theusage community members in order to reduce the number of communications,and therefore the level of annoyance for the users. For example, a model38 (FIG. 1) may be built over time, which identifies the relationbetween the number of requests sent and the time to fix the device. Sucha model may be generated, e.g., by the system 30 and/or printer, andstored on the printer, or elsewhere in the network 10. The model may becoupled with a simple cost model of the sent request, such as a linearmodel (cost being expressed, for example, as an annoyance cost to eachperson on the distribution list contacted). In this way, the printer canthen compute the optimal number of requests to send while minimizing thenumber of requests.

Linking Communities

For some applications, it may be useful to establish links among usagecommunities. For example, topological links can be established amongcommunities of devices located nearby each other. Proximity can berecognized by use of the methods described in above mentioned U.S. PubNo. 2006/0132826 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/137,565. The principlebehind these techniques is that users tend to interact with devices thatare physically close to them, so that the usage logs can be used toevaluate distances between devices. For example, a user who finds hisusual printer out of action will typically print a job on the nearestavailable printer. Thus the degree of overlap between the community ofusers of one printer and the community of users of another printer canbe used as an indicator of device proximity—the greater the degree ofoverlap, the closer in proximity the two printers can be inferred to be.To make use of such a link, a user may use a static email address suchas printer1local@ . . . which is automatically linked by the mailerprogram to the static email address for Printer 2, if that is thenearest printer to the user. Or, if the user knows that Printer 2 is theclosest printer, may simply address the message to Printer 2's staticemail address.

A typology link can be established between communities using the sametype of printer. For example, a user may send an email to printer1type@. . . , which is automatically linked by the mailer program to thestatic email address of Printer 1 and additionally the static emailaddresses of any printers which are the same or similar in configurationto Printer 1.

Linking communities by topological or typology links is useful since thelinked communities may have common interest and issues. For example, auser may wish to contact other users of the same type of device toobtain feedback on how to use the device, locate consumables, how torepair the device, and the like which may be obtained by emailing notonly the distribution list of the user's community but also distributionlists of typologically linked printers. As another example, a user maywish to determine whether a local printer which is not the user'scommunity printer, is operational and may email the distribution list ofthe local printer.

Structuring of Communities

It may be useful to structure the community of usage a device, forrestricting certain types of contacts to a subset of the members of agiven distribution list.

One or more of the following subgroups of members may be identified:

Primary Users: these are users sending most of their jobs to thisdevice.

Designated Users: designated users are those who have a special rolewith the device, for example as a contact person for the manufacturer orservice contract provider or a local specialist for helping colleagues.In some embodiments, the designated user or users can be selectedaccording to printer usage, e.g., based on the number of printed pagesor number of jobs they have sent to the printer within a designatedperiod. In some embodiments, designated users can refuse to accept therole by unsubscribing from the mailing list (e.g., through an automaticfeedback system). In the case where there is no designated user (e.g.,all designated users unsubscribed or fail to answer requests, then a newuser is selected (e.g., by descending order of device usage, asinitially, but without the prior designated users).

Regular Users: these are all the users that have a threshold of usagewhich is higher than that required for membership of the distributionlist (e.g., those who have used the device at least once during the pastfew weeks).

Responsive Users: these are users who are more likely than others torespond to a request for repair, based on their prior responsiveness.

Functionality Users: these are users which are associated to a specificfunctionality (e.g., users that often print in color).

Past Users: these are users who no longer use the device at thethreshold level for membership of the distribution list, i.e., thesystem believes that they no longer use the device.

A distribution list can be generated for each of these device usersub-groups. Each of these sub-groups can be assigned an individualsub-group email address, such as Printer 1-primary users@ . . . .

Thus, in the case where a device is seeking a repair, the communitystructure can be utilized to enforce some organizational policy orsimply reduce the number of annoying emails, by only targeting, forexample, one of the sub groups.

In other embodiments, the printer may be used as a physical bulletinboard. E.g., the screen of the device can display a message from a userto users on the device's distribution list.

Example Uses

The exemplary method and system described herein can automaticallycreate and maintain appropriate email distribution lists of users of adevice such as a MFD. Based on the analysis of a usage log, distributionlists are maintained and optionally structured, so that the device cancommunicate with appropriate people on the list. User-user andsupport-user communications are also facilitated. A distribution listmanagement system provides ways to manage the creation or modificationof lists. Based on the existence of such up-to-date lists, the system isable to communicate with the right people, particularly in the case of aproblem. Non limiting examples include:

1. Identification of a contact person: Remote management of a printinfrastructure can be improved by identifying, for each device 18, 20,22, 24, one contact person among the users at the site. Identifying suchcontact persons can be achieved from information about the roles andhabits of the local community of device users. Having established acontact person, the system 10 reports to a remote management system whenthe selected contact person is no longer within the user community of adevice and provides a list of candidates for a new contact person.

2. Communication: In some organizations in which employees each generaterelatively few documents, a single MFD may be shared by about fifty orone hundred 100 users. This raises several problems. For example, whensuch a printer is paper-jammed, it is difficult to decide whether or notto alert all 100 users and how to identify these users as some employeesmay have left the company. If the problem is not corrected promptly, theprint queue could grow excessively and create an additional problem.

The exemplary method can be used to define an up to datedistribution-list of users associated to a specific device and eithersend a message to the distribution list of all users or to a selectedsub group of the users.

Another problem which the exemplary system can address is in thedetection of soft failures. These are printer malfunctions which theprinter is not itself able to detect, but can be “observed” thorough thechange in usage patterns of the printer users. In one embodiment, thesystem 10 makes use of a soft failure detection system (e.g., in theform of an algorithm which may be stored in system memory, such asmemory 30 and executed by a processor, such as processor 32) thatdynamically analyzes print jobs to detect abnormal user behaviors thatare likely to be caused by a device failure. Such a system is disclosedin above-mentioned U.S. application Ser. No. 11/436,819 filed May 18,2006, entitled “SOFT FAILURE DETECTION IN A NETWORK OF DEVICES,” byANDREOLI, et al. For example, an abnormally high usage of Printer 2 byusers which the system identifies as being on Printer 1's distributionlist is detected, but no fault has been reported by Printer 1. Thedetection system may not know if this is because there is a fault of thetype that the printer is not able to detect or if there is a non-faultrelated reason, such as a large print job is being processed on printer1, and other users of Printer 1 want their jobs processed promptly. Amessage is automatically sent to some or all of the members of thePrinter 1 distribution list asking if there is a fault with printer 1.The user feedback is then taken into account to improve the soft failuredetection system, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. application Ser.No. 12/328,276, filed Dec. 4, 2008, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORIMPROVING FAILURE DETECTION USING COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE WITH END-USERFEEDBACK,” by BOUCHARD, et al. In this case it is the system, ratherthan a user, which can decide to send an email to a subset of the usersin order to collect feedback.

Another problem is how to share knowledge and repair/maintenance tips orbest practices acquired as users gain experience on a daily basisefficiently. The users can simply address their messages to the staticemail address of their printer.

In another example, a user identifies a problem on one of the printers(Printer 1) and emails the IT support team to let them know that thatthere is a problem. Conventionally, the other users of the broken deviceare not contacted, and unless there is a written message on theunavailable printer, several similar messages could be sent to the ITsupport. In the exemplary embodiment, the IT person receiving themessage can reply to the user to let him know what action is being takenand copy the other users on the printer's up-to-date distribution list,e.g., by entering “Printer 1 users” or other predefined genericdescription in the cc, which calls up the updated list and associatesthe list of Printer 1 users with the Printer 1 users' email addresses.

In another example, someone observes that the wrong type of paper isoften fed into one of Printer 2's paper trays, and wants to warn theco-users about this mistake in order to prevent it. Or, a user is goingto print a large job on Printer 2 and wants to notify his-co-users aboutthis. The user can draft an email and address it to “Printer 2 users”.The mailer 60 on the user's computer requests the list from thecommunication component 37 or messaging system 46 and associates thelist of Printer 2 users with the Printer 2 users email addresses.

Other examples include the ability to request users of a printer not toprint large print jobs for a certain period, for example, because theuser has to prepare documents to meet a specific deadline; the abilityto ask other users for something, for example, instructions on how toperform a particular task on the printer or how to correct a problemwith the printer. The system also allows a user of one printer tocontact user communities of other printers. For example, a user ofPrinter 1 realizes that the printer is out of toner or other deviceconsumable and there are no replacements in that location. The userwould like to contact one or two persons in other device communitiesaround the devices to check that some consumable is available, beforewalking to the place. The user sends an email to the designated usersfor the printers.

In another example, the administrator may wish to enter the networkconfiguration for a device for accessing some email service, via SMTP.The administrator may access a device management program 70 such as theXerox device manager, which displays a GUI 72 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.Through the GUI, the administrator identifies a device (Printer 1), thetypes of alerts to be communicated (through drop down box 74, FIG. 4)and the group or sub-group of users to be notified about this alert (ina dropdown box 76, FIG. 5). By specifying the recipients generically,e.g., “Printer 1 users”, the recipients receiving the alerts change asthe Printer 1 distribution list is updated.

Use of such automated email alerts can facilitate customer repair of thedevices, by targeting a specific user group. This reduces the annoyanceto other users on the network which would occur if a global distributionlist were to be used. Also, by targeting a small sub-group, therecipients are aware that they are expected to respond, whereas a globalalert will more likely be ignored by everyone, on the assumption thatsomeone else will attend to the problem. The automatic identification ofthe users that are good at performing a particular task can also behelpful in many situations.

There is also a cost reduction in that the time of the administrator canbe saved through the automatic identification of the main user of agiven device, which simplifies or automates the identification of thecontact persons for a given device. The method also enables betterhandling of device failures: some problems can be solved moreefficiently if the main users of a device are contacted.

The method also provides advantages by linking users that would notcommunicate with each other otherwise, to increase knowledge sharing.

It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. Also thatvarious presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: collecting job log data fora shared device, the shared device comprising a network printer;determining a usage community comprising users of the shared device,based on the job log data, including identifying users that have met athreshold usage of the device in a predetermined time period; generatingat least one distribution list based on the usage community which linksusers in the usage community to their email addresses; structuring thedistribution list into a plurality of sub-groups, each with a differentmembership criterion, based at least in part on the job log data, theplurality of sub-groups including: a) a sub-group of primary users, whoare identified as being users sending most of their jobs to the device;b) a sub-group of designated users, who have a special role with thedevice; and c) a sub-group of regular users, who meet a threshold ofusage higher than that required for membership of the usage community;linking the distribution list with a mailer program, whereby users inthe usage community are grouped together under a common contact addressand at least one of the sub-groups is associated with an individualsub-group contact address; providing for automated alerts issued by thedevice to be sent the at least one of the sub-groups associated with theindividual sub-group contact address; and updating the linkeddistribution list to reflect a change in the usage community based onthe job log data.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providingfor the shared device to communicate with users on the distribution listvia the common contact address.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thesub-groups further include at least one sub-group ace selected from thegroup consisting of: d) a sub-group of responsive users, who are usersmore likely to respond to a request for repair; e) a sub-group offunctionality users, who are associated to a specific devicefunctionality, based on a threshold of usage of the specific devicefunctionality; and f) past users, who no longer use the device at thethreshold level for membership of the distribution list.
 4. The methodof claim 1, further comprising associating each of the sub-groups iswith its own respective common contact address.
 5. The method of claim1, further comprising providing for users in the usage community to benotified when their usage of the shared device no longer qualifies themfor membership of the usage community.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinusers in the usage community are provided with the opportunity of beingdropped from at least one of the at least one distribution lists.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising providing for the device to sendan automated message to users of at least one of the at least onedistribution lists by addressing the message to the group contactaddress.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereby the identities of at leastsome of the users in the usage community that are grouped together underthe common contact address are not accessible to others of the users inthe usage community via the mailer program.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising providing for automated alerts issued by the deviceto be linkable to a selected one of the common contact address and theindividual sub-group contact address.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe shared device further comprises a plurality of shared devices andthe method includes generating at least one distribution list for eachof the shared devices based on its usage community and linking thedistribution lists with a mailer program, whereby users in a first usagecommunity are grouped together under a first common email address andusers in a second usage community are grouped together under a secondcommon email address.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprisingproviding for a user of the first usage community to send a message toat least one user in the second usage community through the secondcommon email address.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving message addressed to the common email address, retrieving theupdated distribution list, associating email addresses with the membersof the updated distribution list and sending the message to theassociated email addresses.
 13. A computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoding instructions,which when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform themethod of claim
 1. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifyingusers includes adding to the usage community users who have met thethreshold of usage of the device in a predetermined time period anddeleting from the usage community, users who have not met a threshold ofusage of the device in a predetermined time period.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising detecting a soft failure of the shareddevice through an abnormally high usage of a second shared device by theusage community.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein an automated alertis issued to a sub-group of the usage community based on one of aplurality of predefined machine state events.
 17. A distribution listgeneration system comprising: memory which stores instructions for:receiving job log data from a plurality of associated shared devices,for a first of the plurality of shared devices, determining a usagecommunity comprising users of the first shared device, based on the joblog data, generating at least one distribution list based on the usagecommunity, structuring the distribution list into a plurality ofsub-groups, each with a different membership criterion, based at leastin part on the job log data, the plurality of sub-groups including: a) asub-group of primary users, who are identified as being users sendingmost of their jobs to the device; b) a sub-group of designated users,who have a special role with the device; and c) a sub-group of regularusers, who meet a threshold of usage higher than that required formembership of the usage community; receiving additional job log datafrom the plurality of associated shared devices, updating thedistribution list to reflect a change in the usage community, the changein the usage community being based on the additional job log data,outputting the updated distribution list to a mailer program, wherebyusers in the usage community are able to be grouped together under acommon contact address, and each of the plurality of sub-groups isassociated with a respective sub-group common contact address; andproviding automated alerts issued by at least one of the plurality ofassociated shared devices to at least one of the plurality of sub-groupsby the associated sub-group common contact address; and a processor incommunication with the memory for executing the instructions.
 18. Thedistribution list generation system of claim 17, wherein theinstructions comprise: for a second of the plurality of shared devices,determining a second usage community comprising users of the secondshared device, based on the job log data, generating at least one seconddistribution list based on the second usage community, and outputtingthe second distribution list to an associated mailer program, wherebyusers in the second usage community are able to be grouped togetherunder a second common contact address.
 19. A network printing systemcomprising the distribution list generation system of claim 17 and aplurality of shared printers which output usage logs to the distributionlist generation system.
 20. The network printing system of claim 19,further comprising the mailer program.
 21. A method for generatingdevice-centered distribution lists for a plurality of printerscomprising: for each of a plurality of shared printers: collecting joblog data; with a processor, determining a usage community, based on thejob log data; generating at least one updatable distribution list ofusers based on the usage community; structuring the distribution listinto a plurality of sub-groups, each with a different membershipcriterion, based at least in part on the job log data, the plurality ofsub-groups including: a) a sub-group of primary users, who areidentified as being users sending most of their jobs to the device; b) asub-group of designated users, who have a special role with the device;and c) a sub-group of regular users, who meet a threshold of usagehigher than that required for membership of the usage community;providing for email addresses for at least a subset of the users listedon the distribution list to be removably linked to a common, staticemail address; and providing for automated alerts issued by one of theprinters to be linkable to the common static email address.